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Trump Administration

It’s Time For NATO To Go The Way Of The Warsaw Pact

July 28, 2018 By Conn Hallinan, Fpif.org , , , ,
The outcome of the July 11-12 NATO meeting in Brussels got lost amid the media’s obsession with President Donald Trump’s bombast, but the “Summit Declaration” makes for sober reading. The media reported that the 28-page document “upgraded military readiness,” and was “harshly critical of Russia,” but there wasn’t much detail beyond that. But details matter, because that’s where the devil hides. One such detail is NATO’s “Readiness Initiative” that will beef up naval, air, and ground forces in “the eastern portion of the Alliance.” NATO is moving to base troops in Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, and Poland. Since Georgia and Ukraine have been invited to join the Alliance, some of those forces could end up deployed on Moscow’s western and southern borders.

Trump: The De-Globalizer?

July 28, 2018 Peter Koenig, Dissidentvoice.org , ,
Looks like Trump is running amok with his “trading policies”. Not only has he upset the European Union, which doesn’t deserve any better, frankly, for having been and still being submissive vassals against the will of by now 90% of Europeans; but he has also managed to get China into a fury. Well, for China it is really not that important, because China has plenty of other markets, including basically all of Asia and probably increasingly also Europe, as Europe increasingly feels the need for detaching from the US. What is striking, though, is that even at the outset of the G20 Summit now ongoing in Buenos Aires, Argentina,Trump’s Ministers have made it clear that unless Europe cancels all subsidies – referring primarily to agricultural subsidies – and eliminates the newly imposed retaliatory import duties, new trade deals are not going to be discussed.

While Poverty & Inequality Grow Theft By The Wealthy Not Prosecuted In The US

July 27, 2018 Rick Claypool, Public Citizen , ,
In the “tough on crime” story President Donald Trump likes to tell about himself, he’s a “law and order” tough guy fighting to save “the forgotten men and women” from the scourge of “American carnage.” But even as the Trump administration ramps up “zero-tolerance” policies against street crimes and immigration, it has gone soft on enforcement policies that protect Americans from lawbreaking corporations. “Corporate Impunity,” a new Public Citizen report, finds that in 11 of 12 agencies led by a Trump administration official for most of 2017, total monetary penalties imposed on corporate violators plummeted. At the Department of Justice (DOJ), penalties against corporate offenders plunged by 90 percent.

Report Projects DOE Coal, Nuclear Bailout Costs Could Top $34 Billion

July 25, 2018 Emma Foehringer Merchant, Greentechmedia.com , , ,
Analysis out this week from The Brattle Group estimates the Trump administration’s coal and nuclear support plan could cost between $9.7 billion and $17.2 billion annually. Working off of the scant details presented in a draft memorandum released by Bloomberg in May, The Brattle Group analyzed several scenarios the administration might employ to support nuclear and coal-fired power plants.  One assumes the government would pay an average $50-per-kilowatt flat rate to all plants, costing $16.7 billion a year. In another scenario, facilities experiencing shortfalls would be compensated directly at a customized level between $43 to $58 per kilowatt, costing between $9.7 billion and $17.2 billion each year. The draft memo suggested facilities would receive payments for two years, putting high-end cost estimates north of $34 billion for the duration of the program.

What’s At Stake If Brett Kavanaugh Joins The Court

July 24, 2018 By Olivia Alperstein, Otherwords.org ,
President Donald Trump has nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh to replace former Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. Why should you care? Because everything from reproductive rights to voting, education, and health care is now at stake. Kavanaugh, a judicial ideologue committed to pulling the Court further to the right, may also reverse decades of key rulings that uphold the constitutional right to personal liberty and autonomy. All Americans say they value personal freedom, especially the right to make our own decisions about our private lives. Every day, we take that liberty for granted, from exercising our right to free speech to lighting up sparklers on the Fourth of July. Cherishing our liberties is as American as apple pie — but our right to exercise those liberties could be undone.

Aftermath Of Helsinki Summit: American ‘Democracy’ In Action

July 21, 2018 Finian Cunningham, Informationclearinghouse.info , ,
July 19, 2018 "Information Clearing House" -  After his landmark summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, US President Donald Trump was apparently forced into an embarrassing u-turn over allegations of Russian interference in American elections. On returning to the White House from his summit in Finland, Trump read out a statement, saying that he“accepted” US intelligence claims that Russia had meddled in the 2016 presidential election. He offered the explanation that he had “mis-spoken” during his press conference with Putin in Helsinki the day before, when he appeared then to accept the Russian president’s “powerful denial” that his country had not interfered in the race for the White House.

Hawaiian Kingdom Files Lawsuit Against President Trump In Washington, D.C.

July 19, 2018 Staff, Hawaiiankingdom.org , ,
On Monday morning, 25  June 2018, the Chairman of the acting Council of Regency for the Hawaiian Kingdom, H.E. David Keanu Sai, Ph.D., filed with the United States District Court for the District of Columbia a Petition for an Emergency Writ of Mandamus against President Donald John Trump. This Petition concerns the illegal and prolonged occupation of the Hawaiian Islands and the failure of the United States to administer the laws of the Hawaiian Kingdom as mandated under Article 43 of the 1907 Hague Convention, IV, Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land (36 Stat. 2199) and under Article 64 of the 1949 Geneva Convention, IV, Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (6 U.S.T. 3516). The United States has ratified both treaties.

US Media is Losing Its Mind Over Trump-Putin Press Conference

July 18, 2018 Joe Lauria, Consortiumnews.com , , ,
As soon as the press conference ended CNN cut to its panel with these words from TV personality Anderson Cooper: “You have been watching perhaps one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president at a summit in front of a Russian leader, surely, that I’ve ever seen.” David Gergen, who for years has gotten away with portraying himself on TV as an impartial political sage, then told CNN viewers: “I’ve never heard an American President talk that way but I think it is especially true that when he’s with someone like Putin, who is a thug, a world-class thug, that he sides with him again and again against his own country’s interests of his own institutions that he runs, that he’s in charge of the federal government, he’s in charge of these intelligence agencies, and he basically dismisses them and retreats into this, we’ve heard it before, but on the international stage to talk about Hillary Clinton’s computer server …”

Has Mueller Caught The Hackers?

July 17, 2018 Aaron Mate, Therealnews.com , , ,
AARON MATE: It’s The Real News, I’m Aaron Mate. For the first time, special counsel Robert Mueller has issued an indictment directly related to “Russiagate’s” underlying crime, the theft of Democratic Party e-mails. On Friday, Mueller charged twelve officials with the GRU, Russia’s main foreign intelligence agency. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein unveiled the indictment. ROD ROSENSTEIN: The indictment charges twelve Russian military officers by name for conspiring to interfere with the 2016 presidential election. Eleven of the defendants are charged with conspiring to hack into computers, steal documents and release those documents with the intent to interfere in the election. One of those defendants and a twelfth Russian military officer are charged with conspiring to infiltrate computers of organizations involved in administering elections.

Trump’s Criticism Of NATO Ignores The Real Questions

July 16, 2018 Jonathan Marshall, Consortiumnews.com ,
Donald Trump’s bluster at the NATO summit only has to do with money, not whether the alliance serves any genuine security purpose, says Jonathan Marshall. The usual NATO summit begins and ends with U.S. and European leaders issuing platitudes about the unbreakable bonds between Western democracies. The two-day summit that began Wednesday is not the usual NATO summit. President Donald Trump came to Brussels armed with a barrage of insults and Twitter blasts against his ostensible allies. He gave a public tongue-lashing to NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, saying it was unfair for the U.S. to pay the most for protecting Europe while Germany agreed to a new pipeline to import natural gas from Russia. “Germany, as far as I’m concerned, is captive to Russia,” Trump said. “Germany is totally controlled by Russia.” But Germany turned to Russia after the Trump administration threatened sanctions on Europeans who buy Iranian natural gas.

For Peace With Putin, End America’s Pointless Wars

July 11, 2018 George D. O'Neill Jr., Theamericanconservative.com  , , ,
The upcoming summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin is an overdue opportunity for the American president’s next bold peace initiative. It is time for the U.S. to stop its wasteful wars, and Russia can be a constructive partner to this end. The mainstream press on both sides of the Atlantic will howl against any agreement between Trump and Putin—no matter what’s in it. So why not take steps that the American public will instinctively understand and that will provide the support for Trump to end America’s failed interventions? Besides what are his opponents going to do? Vilify him for seeking peace and starting the process of healing the many wounds of the wars? The American people are not fooled by false claims that Trump is soft on terrorism; they are aware that U.S. military interventions oftentimes can—and do—fuel terrorism.

Intentional Chaos: Trump And The Global NATO Alliance

July 11, 2018 Joseph Gerson, Truthout.org ,
As the world gears up for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit this week in Brussels and Donald Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin scheduled for July 16, there is uncertainty and anxiety across the world about the outcomes of these encounters. Will Trump swing his wrecking ball at NATO allies? Can he engage in serious negotiations with his Russian counterpart to extend the New START Treaty and save the increasingly endangered Intermediate Nuclear Forces Agreement, which ended the Cold War? Contrary to popular opinion, NATO needs to be recognized as an imperial military alliance that includes a first-strike nuclear war fighting doctrine. Consistent with what Zbigniew Brzezinski later described as the geopolitical requirements for US domination of Eurasia, and thus the world, NATO’s first secretary general explained that the alliance’s purpose was to keep Germany down, Russia out and the US in.

Donald Trump’s Immigration Policy Forces Children To Defend Themselves Before A Judge

July 11, 2018 Staff, Granma.cu , , , ,
As a result of the immigration policy of Donald Trump, immigrant minors are being summoned in the courts without lawyers, that is, they must defend themselves. The newspaper USA Today explains the story of a child under three years of age who appeared before the judge and had to defend himself only to avoid deportation. He tried to enter with his father, but separated them for illegally crossing to EE. UU. A video of the NGO Unaccompanied Children, which works with immigrant communities since 1978, has gone viral in the last hours in social networks, for sharing a recreation of these trials to minors, reports the Catalan newspaper El Periódico. "When children appear in immigration court alone, nine out of ten are deported. When they appear with a lawyer, the immigration courts have allowed almost half of the children to stay in the United States, "the video points out.

Trump’s Supreme Court Nominee Decided Against Net Neutrality And For NSA Surveillance

July 10, 2018 By Colin Lecher, Theverge.com , , , , ,
After intense speculation, President Trump said today that he has selected Judge Brett Kavanaugh as his nominee to succeed retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy. In his announcement, the president introduced his nominee as a jurist with “impeccable credentials” and as “a judge’s judge.” Kavanaugh, who was nominated to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit by George W. Bush, where he currently serves, certainly has a notable, if likely controversial, record on tech policy issues. While it’s difficult to anticipate exactly which issues might come before the court, his past rulings suggest a reliably conservative voice on tech. His addition to the highest court in the country could vastly reshape the digital landscape.

Federal Judge Dismisses Trump Administration Lawsuit Against California Sanctuary Laws

July 10, 2018 Antonia Blumberg, Huffingtonpost.com.mx , , ,
A federal judge on Monday dismissed the Trump administration’s lawsuit challenging several California laws that protect undocumented immigrants. U.S. District Judge John Mendez sided with California in its request to reject the Justice Department’s complaint against SB 54, known as the “sanctuary state law,” and AB 103, which requires transparency in the monitoring of detention facilities, as well as a provision of AB 450, the Immigrant Worker Protection Act, that requires employers to inform workers before handing over their employment records to federal authorities. Mendez ruled that the government’s case against other provisions of AB 450 would be allowed to go forward that make employers risk a fine for failing to keep federal agents out of their workplaces without a warrant.
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